Make Room

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

MAKE ROOM

2 Cor 7:2-4

2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 4 I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

NIV

This deserved asking ourselves if we live in a manner that does not wrong anyone. We also must ask if we have ever corrupted and or exploited anyone. We must also include asking ourselves if we have ever condemned anyone. We might well be sure that we have wronged someone, even if it was unintentional. It is most difficult to live completely free of all sin, and so it is most assuredly we have wronged another person at some point in time. The point here is for us to be aware in our relationships and do everything we can not to wrong someone, to in fact, put them, put their feelings before ours. It would seem the easiest way to wrong another is in our selfishness, of our feelings, of our desires and simply of our life. As far as corrupting anyone, the simplest way we can do that is to gossip. When we gather someone into our grasp with gossip about a mutual friend, or acquaintance, we are in fact corrupting them with sin. When we include them in our disapproval of something the pastor or other leaders of the church are doing, we corrupt them with our dissention. If we use anyone for some personal gain, whether that be our pride, our need for approval, our desire to lead a small group, a bible study, a Sunday school class, or any other form of leadership out of self-satisfaction it is a form of exploitation. It is so easy to get catch up in all of these traps, that we need to be so careful, being aware at all times of our motives for whatever we do. If we would have great confidence in others, if we would have great pride in them and if we were greatly encouraged by them it would mean we are seeing the very best in them, and not seeing any of their faults, knowing full well we are not without faults of our own. If also appears we should be filled with unbounded joy for other believers. Whatever success they have both in the worldly sense as well, even more specifically, in the spiritual sense we should be joyous for them, in fact we should encourage them, spurring them on to serve the Lord even more, to be a wonderful witness of God’s amazing blessings. Most of all we need to make room in our hearts for them.